17 posts from March 2010

Mar 25, 2010

Mar 21, 2010

I am uncomfortable with this sort of comparison because it still buys into a paradigm of one religion being better than the other. Interestingly, I think the most intelligent comment comes from the critic of Islam who argues that the Qur'an is not about history, but the present. It is, in many ways, about always defining the present, which means it's reading cannot be fixed in the past either. He does not take the argument to the logical conclusion. If the guidance is meant to be read for the present, than we as Muslims must struggle with its meaning at all times. By deferring to the past, we say the guidance was only good for the past.

Washington, DC– Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) released the following statement today in celebration of Nowruz:

“Tomorrow marks the onset of Nowruz, the beginning of spring and the first day of the Iranian New Year. It’s an ancient tradition dating back over 3,000 years, celebrated by people throughout Iran, Central Asia, South Asia, Caucasus, Crimea, the Balkans, and here in the United States. I want to join my fellow members of Congress in wishing Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak to all those celebrating this special holiday, including the more than one million Iranian Americans of all religious backgrounds who share this day. Nowruz symbolizes a time of renewal and hope; we all should take a moment to reflect on the shared humanity that ties us together. May this new year bring you peace and prosperity.”

Mar 18, 2010

Patheos asked to describe God in 100 words. They compiled all the responses they received to this "theoblogger" challenge, and the results are interesting. Check out the site. I am one of two Muslims, the other being Svend White from Akram's Razor, and without speaking to each other about the challenge, we focused on God's immanence and transcendence. Nice complement.

Mar 16, 2010

There are two reasons I am utterly baffled by the possible reversal of the decision to try terrorists in federal court. First, it comes at a time when efforts to find, kill, and capture terrorists are having significant success. The key, it turns out, is to be dogged and professional, rather than going to "the dark side." And that's the other puzzling thing -- that arguments based on fear-mongering and emphasizing the appearance of toughness still carry weight long after they were shown to do more harm than good.

…

We've got this totally backwards; this is a chance for the United States to show the contrast between the majesty of justice being done and some despicable sadists with the delusion that they can remake the world by murdering innocents.

…

And then there's the big Republican talking point about the supposed folly of treating terrorists like "common criminals," which we've heard from Sen. Graham as well as Minority Leader Boehner lately. Since when is every defendant or prisoner in our justice system a common criminal? Is this a flaw that we're just noticing? Do we need a new system to deal with mass murderers, or some other categories of felonies in order to distinguish them from "common crimes?" And this is the real point, the military commissions have a troubled history and virtually no track record of success in prosecuting terrorists. It really is ridiculous that a court system that has proven its ability to prosecute terrorists, including handling sensitive evidence, should be discussed so skeptically. It really should be the other way around.

Intersections Internationals' Veteran-Civilian Dialogue program is pleased to host The Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute's theater project, “In Our Own Voice: Women Veterans Tell Their Stories.” This event will be devoted to the stories of women veterans––through monologues, video interviews, and in conversation with women veterans present at the event. The Veteran-Civilian Dialogue facilitates conversations between veterans and civilians about war's effects on us all. Men and women, veteran and civilian, all are welcome!

“In Our Own Voice: Women Veterans Tell Their Stories” takes place March 26, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Intersections International, 274 Fifth Avenue in New York City (between 29th and 30th). Join us between 6:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. for Hors d'Oeuvres. Please RSVP to Mary Ragan at 212.285.1552

Mar 13, 2010

This story is simultaneously sad and funny. A German puts on bad blackface to pretend to be a Somali, to prove Germans are racist.

Philipp Lichterbeck, film critic for the Tagesspiegel newspaper, says that Mr Wallraff’s disguise made him look like a clown. The fact that nobody suspected that something was amiss, he says, “does not exactly testify to the worldliness of the Germans”.

Acting on a complaint filed last year by the principal, Debbie Almontaser, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the department “succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on D.O.E. as an employer,” according to a letter issued by the commission on Tuesday.